The NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in Mal Pais, Costa Rica is all set to begin on Friday

Mal Pais, Costa Rica, February 9, 2012 - The opening ceremony of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup women's inter zonal tournament between Central America and the Caribbean was held on Thursday with Oldemar Fernandez, Mayor of the Municipality of Cobano, present.

"I want to thank all the beach volleyball authorities from NORCECA confederation for selecting Costa Rica, and especially Mal Pais, as the host town of this important tournament," Fernandez said. "I hope you can enjoy your time with us, have a good tournament and then come back for future competitions."

"We are all winners just by the fact of having all of you here in our region," Fernandez added. "And it is such a privilege to be in the company of so many good female athletes."

William Corrales, president of the Costa Rica National Federation, welcomed the 40 athletes representing 10 countries and wished them all the best of luck.

"For the first time Costa Rica is hosting a NORCECA competition and it is a real challenge but I hope everything goes well and all of you can go back to your countries with good memories of our hospitality and our culture," Corrales said.

Marta Centeno de Sajche, FIVB executive vice-president and president of the Central American Volleyball Association of National Federations introduced the members of the control committee and the referees, while Arnaldo Sanchez, the technical director, explained the competition system with a double elimination format.

The countries in the winners bracket will play a best-of-five series with a golden set in the case of a tie. Those on the loser’s side will meet in a best-of-three series, also with a golden set to decide the winner if needed. The top four countries move on to the final phase against the top four countries of the Central Region in June in Nayarit, Mexico.

The five Central America's countries taking part in this stage of the competition are Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The Caribbean is represented by Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao, Jamaica and Cayman Islands.

At the end of the opening ceremony the local organizers presented a junior chamber music group from schools of the community who performed several themes followed by a group of young dancers of Costa Rica folkloric music.